Suicide Hotlines and Crisis Lines in Namibia

A helpline is a place to talk to someone when you are struggling, before or instead of a crisis. The lines on this page are answered by social workers, social work interns, psychology students and trained volunteer counsellors. If you are not in Namibia, the worldwide list is organised by country.

Namibia has one national helpline service and no dedicated suicide line. LifeLine/ChildLine Namibia says so itself: it "currently runs the only national helpline-based counselling service in Namibia". Its adult line is the 106 GBV HelpLine, and its own brochure says that line is there for a person in "a GBV-related situation or any other dangerous situations such as suicide". So this page is short, and it is short because the country is.

What you share is kept private in almost all cases; if a counsellor believes a life is in immediate danger, they may arrange urgent help. Both helplines below are toll-free, in the organisation's own words. We cannot tell you what hours they answer, and the reason is set out under each one.

TherapyRoute is a directory. We do not answer calls or messages ourselves, so please use the numbers below rather than contacting us if you need someone now.

CRISIS LINES, SUICIDE HOTLINES, AND HELPLINES IN NAMIBIA

Each number below was checked in September 2026 at the operating organisation's own website and its own published documents, at a Namibian statutory body's own site, or at the City of Windhoek's own site.

Notice an error or a missing service? Please tell us so we can correct it.

Emergency numbers, and what we could not verify

LifeLine/ChildLine Namibia, 106, the adult and gender-based violence line

LifeLine/ChildLine Namibia, 116, the child helpline

What we cannot tell you about when these lines answer

While you are waiting to be answered

If you are worried about someone else

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Emergency numbers, and what we could not verify

This is the honest position, and it is worth one paragraph of your time. We could not open a single Namibian government website from here. The health ministry and the national portal refused every connection, the police force's site served a firewall block on every attempt, and the regional council page that is indexed as carrying Namibia's emergency numbers timed out. The communications regulator's own numbering regulations say the emergency short codes are published on the regulator's website, and they are not there.

So the numbers you will find on travel sites and phone apps for Namibia are not printed here. They may well be right. We could not check them at any Namibian source, and a wrong emergency number on a page like this one is worse than a gap.

What we could verify is below.

9682, the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund's accident response number. The Fund is a statutory body, established by the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund Act No. 10 of 2007, and it publishes this number on its own site: it "calls on all road users to save the MVA Fund Toll Free Accident Response Number 9682". It is national in reach. It is a crash response line, not a general emergency number and not a mental health line, and it is printed here as what it is.

Tel: 9682

Cost: toll-free, in the Fund's own words.

The City of Windhoek's own numbers, for Windhoek only. The municipality publishes these on its emergency contact page. Namibia's other city page on this site is not Windhoek, so these do not cover the country.

Tel: 061 302 302, the City Police, which the municipality labels toll free

SMS: 4444, the City Police SMS line

Tel: 061 211 111, the headquarters fire station

Cost: the City Police line is toll free, in the municipality's own words. No cost is published for the fire station or the SMS line.

LifeLine/ChildLine Namibia, 106, the adult and gender-based violence line

LifeLine/ChildLine Namibia is a registered welfare organisation established in 1980, and it runs the country's only national helpline counselling service. 106 is its adult line. The organisation names it the Gender-Based Violence HelpLine, and its own brochure sets out who it is for in a sentence that matters on a page like this one: the line "aims to assist those in need of help when found in a GBV-related situation or any other dangerous situations such as suicide".

You do not have to have experienced violence to call it. The organisation's own description of the counselling behind both its lines covers "Health (physical & mental), Violence, Discrimination, Exploitation, Relationships issues", parenting and child protection, and it adds that it serves "as an entry point to any case category" and refers on where a case is beyond its scope. Its board report describes who answers: counsellors who "assist and provide psychosocial support to those who are in immediate danger and experiencing emotional distress".

The counselling centre is staffed by social workers, social work interns, psychology students and lay counsellors, with about forty volunteer counsellors working in four-hour shifts.

Tel: 106

SMS: 081 398 5510, the counselling centre's SMS channel

Hours: not stated on this page, because the organisation's own documents disagree. See the section below, which sets out all three statements with their dates.

Cost: toll-free. The organisation's brochure says "The lines are accessible to all Namibians free of charge." Nothing it publishes says the SMS line is free, and it is an ordinary mobile number rather than a short code, so assume your normal message rate.

Privacy, in the organisation's own words: its counsellors "sign an Oath of Confidentiality, adhere to a Code of Ethics, and follow clearly defined Counselling Standard Operating Procedures".

Languages: not published.

LifeLine/ChildLine Namibia, 116, the child helpline

116 is the same organisation's child helpline. In its own words, it "provides toll free services focused on assisting children with difficulties, dealing with emotional distress, abuse(all types), educational problems etc." The punctuation is the organisation's own. The organisation is also a registered child protection agency with designated social workers, and that work runs alongside the line rather than through it.

Tel: 116

SMS: 081 398 5510, the same counselling centre SMS channel

Hours: not stated, for the same reason as the line above. The board report's hours sentence names 116 and 106 together.

Cost: toll-free, on the same statement.

Languages: not published.

What we cannot tell you about when these lines answer

LifeLine/ChildLine Namibia publishes three different answers to this question, in three of its own documents, and we are not going to choose between them for you.

Its homepage says the organisation "operates a 24/7 National Counselling Centre in Windhoek". Its data report, published in July 2025 and covering the years to March 2023, says the centre "has been operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since June 2022".

Its board report of February 2025, which is the only one of the three written in the present tense about how the service runs now, says something different: "Currently the 106 and 116 toll free helpline can be accessed nationwide between 08:00 am and 20:00 pm. The organization is in the process of resourcing funds to secure a 24/7 Helplines."

What that means for you, plainly. During the day, both lines are answered. In the evening and overnight they may be, and the organisation's own most recent operational statement suggests they may not. If you call at night and nobody answers, that is not you being turned away, and the guidance in the two sections below still stands.

While you are waiting to be answered

A line that is open can still be busy, and the hours these lines answer are not settled. If you are waiting, try to stay with someone you trust, or ask someone to sit with you until the call connects.

If you have anything near you that you could use to harm yourself, put it somewhere harder to reach, or ask someone else to hold it for you. Distance and time both help.

If waiting is not possible, go to the casualty department of your nearest hospital. You do not need an appointment and you do not need to explain yourself well. In Windhoek you can call the City Police on 061 302 302.

If you are worried about someone else

Ask them directly. Asking someone whether they are thinking of suicide does not put the idea there, and it often comes as a relief to be asked plainly.

Listen more than you advise. You do not need the right words, and you are not expected to fix anything.

If they are willing, offer to sit with them while they phone one of the numbers above, or to make the call together. If they are in immediate danger, treat it as you would any medical emergency.

Supporting someone through this is heavy, and it is reasonable to want support of your own. 106 takes calls from anyone in Namibia, and the organisation describes itself as an entry point for any kind of case, referring on where something else is needed.

For services in other countries, see the list of helplines and suicide hotlines worldwide.

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